1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to adjustable thermal trip units for circuit breakers and, more specifically, to an adjustable thermal trip unit wherein the low amperage trip setting of the trip unit may be adjusted independently of the high amperage trip setting.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Electrical circuit breakers are well known and have been employed for many years to control the flow of electrical current in serially connected electrical circuits. Typically, two modes of operation are provided to control the flow of current in the electrical circuit; a manual mode and an automatic mode.
In the manual mode, a person moves an operating lever between an on position and an off position which closes and opens, respectively, separable contacts within the circuit breaker. This either allows or interrupts the flow of electrical current through the circuit breaker and, thus, through the serially connected electrical circuit.
In the automatic mode of operation, the operating lever is first placed in the on position, thereby allowing electrical current to flow through the circuit breaker. When a predetermined overcurrent condition occurs the circuit breaker automatically opens the separable contacts thereby interrupting the flow of current to the electrical circuit.
The circuit breaker includes an operating mechanism which is mechanically connected to both the operating lever and the separable contacts and which moves the separable contacts between their open and closed positions in response to movement of the operating lever or in response to an automatic signal to open the contacts of the circuit breaker under the prescribed overcurrent conditions. An automatic trip unit is mechanically connected to the operating mechanism and employed to provide such an automatic signal thereby interrupting the flow of electrical current through the circuit breaker and the serially connected electrical circuit, under such prescribed conditions. This is termed "tripping the circuit breaker."
Automatic trip units, generally, employ two different apparatuses to trip the circuit breaker during overcurrent conditions. One such apparatus employs an electromagnet, which is connected to the electrical current path through the circuit breaker. The electromagnet includes a fixed member and a moveable member which develop varying degrees of magnetic flux, therebetween, in relation to the magnitude of current flowing through the circuit breaker. The magnetic flux applies a force to the moveable member and rotates it to an extent determined by the magnitude of electrical current flowing through the electrical circuit. The moveable member is connected to the trip bar of the trip unit and the trip bar trips the circuit breaker when rotated past a prescribed point.
The circuit breaker is assigned a nominal value, termed "rating," which is the maximum continuous magnitude of current which may flow through the circuit breaker without tripping. The electromagnet is designed to immediately trip the circuit breaker when the current flow through the electrical circuit exceeds approximately 500 percent of the rating of the breaker.
A second device employed in the automatic trip unit, which responds to overcurrent conditions of less than 500 percent of the rating of the breaker, is a thermal tripping device. Thermal tripping devices, typically, employ a bimetal strip wherein two different, generally, flat pieces of metal are mechanically attached together and define, generally, a planar surface when the temperature of the strips is equal to the ambient temperature surrounding the circuit breaker. The distinct metals from which each strip is constructed have different thermal expansion coefficients so that they elongate to different lengths whenever their temperatures are elevated above ambient.
The bimetal strip is mechanically connected to a heater which is connected in series with the electrical circuit and which has known heat generating electrical resistance properties wherein the rate of heat generation can be correlated to specific magnitudes of electrical current flow therethrough. The heater conducts some of the generated heat to the bimetal strip, thereby equally elevating the temperature of both strips which comprise the bimetal strip. Such heating of the bimetal strip causes it to bend out of its planar configuration since the two separate strips, from which the bimetal strip is formed, elongate to a different length under such temperature elevation.
The bimetal strip is positioned in spaced-apart relationship with respect to the trip bar of the trip unit when no current is flowing through the circuit breaker. However, when electrical current is flowing through the circuit breaker, the bimetal strip bends toward the trip bar. When the electrical current flowing through the circuit breaker exceeds the predetermined limit for a predetermined period of time, the bimetal strip will bend to such an extent that it engages the trip bar thereby rotating it and tripping the circuit breaker.
Typically, a set screw is interposed between the bimetal strip and the trip bar to provide for calibration of the trip unit. The set screw projects from the surface of either the bimetal strip or the trip bar by a distance which may be adjusted by rotating the set screw. By adjusting the set screw in this manner, the distance that the bimetal strip must bend before it rotates the trip bar and trips the circuit breaker may be adjusted. Since the distance that the bimetal strip bends is a function of the magnitude of current flow through the circuit breaker, with more current flow causing more bending, the trip unit may be calibrated to trip the circuit breaker at a particular magnitude of current flow by adjusting the set screw.
Some trip bars include an inclined, or ramp surface, for contacting set screws which are projecting from the bimetal strip. The trip bar is positioned within the trip unit in a manner which allows it to slide along its longitudinal axis in response to the operation of an external control.
The ramp surface is positioned on the trip bar in such a manner that the distance between the set screw and the ramp surface varies as the trip bar is moved along its longitudinal axis. Therefore, the distance that the bimetal strip must bend before it contacts and rotates the trip bar can be adjusted by either sliding the trip bar along its longitudinal axis or by altering the distance that the set screw projects from the bimetal strip.
Providing an adjustable ramp surface on the trip bar is desirable since it is, frequently, advantageous to be able to quickly and easily change the rating of the breaker. With an adjustable ramp contact surface this may be achieved in the following manner.
The trip bar is, initially, slid along its longitudinal axis as far as possible to achieve maximum separation between the adjustment screw on the bimetal strip and the ramp. This is the high end of the trip bar travel. The adjustment screw projecting from the bimetal strip is then rotated until the distance between the adjustment screw and the ramp surface allows maximum rated current to flow through the breaker without tripping. If the trip bar is then slid toward the low end, which is in the opposite direction from the high end, the distance between the set screw and ramp surface will decrease. Therefore the bimetal strip will rotate the trip bar and trip the circuit breaker at less than the maximum rating of the breaker.
In certain applications it is desirable to provide a trip unit which may be adjusted from the maximum rating to a specific rating which is less than the maximum rating. For example, in certain applications it is desirable to adjust the rating of a circuit breaker between maximum rating and 80 percent maximum rating.
In such circumstances, the ramp must be carefully engineered, and the set screw must be carefully adjusted, so that the rating of the breaker is at its maximum value when the trip bar is positioned at the high end of travel and at a value equal to exactly 80 percent of the maximum rating when the trip bar is positioned at the low end of travel. This presents several problems. First, the trip bar, the ramp surface and the external adjustment control which moves the trip bar must be engineered and manufactured under tolerances which ensure that the rating of the trip unit will be reduced to exactly 80 percent of the maximum when the trip bar is moved to the low end.
Since most of the parts which control the adjustment of the trip unit are formed from plastic type materials, this requires very carefully designed molds to ensure proper operation. Further, if the trip unit is removed from the particular circuit breaker for which it has been designed and substituted in a different circuit breaker, it may be possible that the rating of the circuit breaker, when the trip bar is at the low end, will be at some value other than 80 percent after the set screw has been properly adjusted to the maximum rating when the trip bar is moved to the high end. The present invention overcomes all of these limitations.